From left, Manistique’s Joey Hoholik makes a move down the lane in front of Gladstone’s Carson Shea and Reece Castor and Manistique’s Kyle Seeley in Gladstone on Friday. (Escanaba Daily Press photo by Mike Mattson)

By MIKE MATTSON

Escanaba Daily Press

GLADSTONE — It’s amazing nobody dispatched the fire department to Gladstone High School on Friday.

The nets were on fire that night as Gladstone shot the lights out in an 89-34 Mid-Peninsula Conference contest.

It was no five-alarm situation, but the Braves (2-0, 2-0) shot a sizzling 63 percent from the field and made 14 3-pointers. Reece Castor and Rudy Peterson each swished five treys and finished with 24 points and 19 points, respectively, for the hot Braves.

“The other night we were 10 of 25 from three and tonight 14 of 23,” Gladstone coach Dane Quigley said. “That is some pretty good shooting. I knew I had a lot of good shooters coming in.”

“I kind of expected some of them,” Manistique coach Ed Marietti said of the shooters. “I didn’t know how many they had. I knew Castor was going to launch them and Peterson came out and hit five in the first half.”

Manistique (0-2, 0-2) actually took early 2-0 and 5-4 leads. But it was just a matter of time before the Braves heated up.

Gladstone connected on seven 3-pointers en route to a 28-7 first-quarter lead and had 11 triples in building a 56-15 halftime lead.

“I was happy somewhat in the first quarter and then halfway through all of a sudden,” Marietti said. “Once they get the big lead they get even more relaxed. We didn’t do much on the offensive side. We weren’t very aggressive and we were kind of slow.”

Kanton Lauzon led the Emeralds with eight points, with Anderson Schyler chipping in seven. Kyle Seeley grabbed a team-high four rebounds and Logan Pawley and Lauzon each had three assists.

Gladstone won the JV game 77-13.